How to Fix Your Slow iPhone 5 Wi-Fi Connection

Earlier this week, we reported the problem some users were having with their iPhone 5, where their Wi-Fi connections were slow and unreliable. Well, OS X Daily thinks it has the solution to your problem.

OS X Daily:

Some iPhone 5 users are experiencing a variety of issues with wifi on the device, almost always revolving around inconsistently slow wireless connections. If you’re having this problem, you’re not alone, and the good news is you can almost certainly get an immediate improvement by setting manual DNS on the device.

Fixing Slow iPhone 5 Wi-Fi With Manual DNS Settings

You can just use Google’s DNS Services for this (8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4), or follow the full process to find the fastest DNS servers. Either way, you should see an improvement.

How to find the fastest DNS Servers:

  • Download NameBench on your Mac or PC and run it to discover the fastest DNS servers for your location, the test will only take a few minutes.
  • Take the best result and grab your iPhone 5.
  • Open Settings, tap on “Wi-Fi”, and tap the blue arrow alongside the connected Wi-Fi network.
  • Tap next to “DNS” to manually adjust the DNS entry. (Didn’t run NameBench? Try the Google DNS servers: 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4)

Leave Settings and run Speed Test, browse the web or try any online based activity using the Wi-Fi connection. It should be noticeably faster.

The theory is that the whole problem is a compatibility issue between the iPhone 5 and certain routers. This could be why not everyone has the problem, (I haven’t had the problem… Yet.), and why the same iPhone 5 will have problems with one network, and yet work fine on another.

Chris Hauk

Chris is a Senior Editor at Mactrast. He lives somewhere in the deep Southern part of America, and yes, he has to pump in both sunshine and the Internet.